A survey of the Supreme Court’s docket finds a court overwhelmed by petitions from those with money and resources. THE Indian Supreme Court has a reputation for being a “people’s court” or, as one judge put it, a “last resort for the oppressed and bewildered”. The Constitution gives all Indians the right to petition directly the Supreme Court if their fundamental rights are violated and the right to appeal to...
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Their own suppliers by Sushmita Sengupta
Scarcity teaches a village in Orissa how to manage its water supply Thirty-something Gulab Kunju remembers the days when she would drink milk to quench thirst because drinking water was scarce. Her village Dhaurada had three hand pumps to meet the needs of more than 120 families settled in four hamlets. Each day she would make several TRIPs to the nearest hand pump on the outskirts of her hamlet. During summers the...
More »“No violation in seeking allowance for CJI’s wife” by J Venkatesan
No practice has been violated in seeking sanction for grant of a daily allowance by the Union government to the spouse of Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, Supreme Court Secretary-General (SG) said on Friday. The statement came in response to a reply furnished by the Law Ministry to RTI activist Subash Chandra Agrawal that the SG recently requested revised sanction allowing a daily allowance to the CJI’s spouse for...
More »Simpler disability rule by Cithara Paul
The government has decided to simplify the process of issuing disability certificates through a slew of steps that would among other things relieve disadvantaged people in rural areas of the trouble of making long, “cumbersome” TRIPs. The social justice ministry has decided to let doctors at primary health centres issue disability certificates to those with visible handicaps such as blindness, amputations and paralysis of limbs. At present, a person with disabilities has...
More »Every Breath We Take by Madhu Purnima Kishwar
Why is the government aggressively attacking and destroying inexpensive eco-friendly technologies and promoting pollution-friendly ones? Are we obliged to repeat all the mistakes that the West committed in its pursuit of economic growth? While it makes sense to corner First World countries into investing in eco- friendly technologies to control carbon emissions, as was attempted at Copenhagen, the stand of the Indian government that India cannot afford to enforce better...
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